The Nintendo Wii dominated the US hardware sales chart for November, selling an astonishing 2.04 million units for the month. For the same month last year, Nintendo sold 981,000 units.
Year on year, hardware revenue was up 10 percent, says NPD.
“One reason for the continued strength of the industry compared to other forms of entertainment comes from a number of sources,” said NPD’s Anita Frazier. “Certainly, the expanded audience for gaming due to the availability of a wider variety of compelling content is a strong contributor.”
The full sales chart:
2.04m - Wii
1.57m - Nintendo DS
836k - Xbox 360
421k - PSP
378k - PlayStation 3
206k - PlayStation 2
Result for: npd
According to the NPD Group, year-over-years sales for the US videogame market fell 6 percent to $1.18 billion USD for January 2008.
Software sales for the month increased 11 percent however, to $610.6 million USD, but NPD’s Anita Frazier attributed that increase mainly to higher prices, such as the expensive “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” bundles that both sold very well.
Hardware sales were down a hefty 25 percent to $377.8 million USD with the Nintendo Wii leading the Pack again with sales of 274,000 units. Notably though, the Sony PlayStation 3 took second place with 269,000 units sold, placing it just ahead of the
Hardware sales were down 25 per cent to USD 377.8 million, with the Wii once again leading the pack with sales of the PS2 (264,000) and the Microsoft Xbox 360 (230,000).
“Based on this month’s results, software sales are off to a fantastic start,” said Frazier. “Accessories are also very hot, so the industry looks to be pretty healthy out the gate.”
Result for: npd
Apple has announced that they have dropped the price of their popular iPod Shuffle model after growth drastically slowed for the last quarter.
The 1GB 2nd Generation Shuffle will now cost a reasonable $49 USD. The company also introduced a 2GB version that will cost $69 USD.
A company statement showed that the player saw slowed growth to 5 percent last quarter, compared to 15 percent for the year and a half preceding it.
“This makes the Shuffle more competitive in terms of a price-capacity ratio,” NPD Group’s Ross Rubin said in an interview from New York. “While Apple had a good holiday season, the market has been slowing down somewhat.”
To date Apple has sold over 140 million iPods, including Shuffles, “classic” iPods, and the new Touch model.
